Best way to give back to the community (not as a programmer)?
 

Hey all, I've been a lurker at maemo.org for a few months now, just today started up my account.

I'm planning on grabbing an N900 sometime around christmas, and I'm trying to figure out the best way to help the community grow without being a developer, and without having a device.

Some quick background: While I'm very familiar with Windows OSes, I've used linux only sparingly. Installed a few different distros over the years (ubuntu, opensuse, fedora), but they never really stuck with me (I think its the gaming part of me :) ).

I do have the SDK running on my VMWare, and so I was just trying to get a good lead on what to start researching, learning, etc. before my device got here. I'd love to start being a tester for some of the not-yet-released apps, so I would guess to start out by knowing the ins and outs of flashing and unbricking devices might be useful....what else though?


Cliffs for those that dont want to read:
1. Don't have my N900 yet
2. Not a developer, limited current knowledge of linux OSes
3. Want to try and help out the community, possibly through testing?
4. Good resources on where to start and things to learn while I'm waiting for my device?

Re: Best way to give back to the community (not as a programmer)?
 

Some of the things this community really needs are someone to help newbies transition into regular users (get comfortable with searching for answers). Or walkthroughs or a FAQ to help address common questions or problems since not everyone has time to do so.

Re: Best way to give back to the community (not as a programmer)?
 

See the first post at http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=31393 - or actually I'll post it here for convenience.

Also, please post community related threads to the Community forum, this way you will have more chances of getting answers.

Re: Best way to give back to the community (not as a programmer)?
 

Welcome Chapbass. There's lots you can do. Right now we need calm voices in the n900 forum. If you are familiar with n900s capabilities, you an start answering the simple questions. Or you can become a greeter. (Or both)

There's loads of work to be done on the wiki and the FAQ. Sign up and jump in.

Once you have an n900, I know there's a crying need for testers to bring the many, many apps from extras-devel to extras. If you have the courage and confidence to try them and vote, you would be an real asset.

Re: Best way to give back to the community (not as a programmer)?
 

Maemo Greeters are always useful :)

Re: Best way to give back to the community (not as a programmer)?
 

*Takes a deep breath* *hummms zen-like* Darn you beat me to the greeters idea :) hehehe

Re: Best way to give back to the community (not as a programmer)?
 

Yeah qgil, I saw that post right after I posted mine.

Oh man, the Wiki, I never even thought of that.

I have TONS of time to write up documentation and such while I'm at work (whenever the phone isn't ringing), so maybe I'll focus on that route. Try and make the maemo community as "professional" looking as possible, hopefully to get more users to take the leap :)

Any suggestions on where to start?

Re: Best way to give back to the community (not as a programmer)?
 

Yeah, but Quim beat me to all the rest. ;)

Re: Best way to give back to the community (not as a programmer)?
 

Hmmm I came across this thread just now... I'm not a programmer but again would like to give back to the community. Expecting to pick up my device tomorrow and have been very active in the N900 forum (joined in october, first post was last week!)

How to go about editing the wiki or becoming a tester are my questions though.?

Re: Best way to give back to the community (not as a programmer)?
 

Thanks to those who mentioned the Maemo Greeters. They have been a quick and very visible success! An easy way to help out.

Link: http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=33968